voice no longer in complaint saying, "What! could ye not watch with me one hour ?" but as the voice of our own beloved Bridegroom in tones of music such as sin-cursed earth could never hear. "Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom." Well has it been written, "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him;" but since Isaiah's day, by the coming of the Incarnate Son "God hath revealed them-in measure unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." For then in one grand choir shall we sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of the nations. Who shall not fear thee and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy, for all the nations shall come and worship before thee, because thy righteous acts have been made manifest." And then the refrain of every song of redeemed men, "Unto him that loveth us (see Alford), and washed us from our sins in his blood, and he made us a kingdom, even priests unto God and his Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever. Amen." And then in grander chorus still, the ascription of praise fitted to the lips of angels too, "Amen! The blessing and the glory, and the wisdom, and the thanksgiving, and the honour, and the power, and the might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."

Let post-millenarians note here the form of expression this song of the redeemed and risen ones takes: "all the nations shall come and worship before thee," showing this their song to be premillennial.

And now, with title deeds in hand and wedded to his Bride, the Heir of all things must descend to take possession of his inheritance. In order to which he must gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, must dethrone the usurper Satan, personified in the Man of Sin, the son of perdition, the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. For now at length the promise given at the very dawn of incarnation must be fulfilled: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke i. 32, 33.) The Lord hasten it in his time!

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V. THE REIGN AND RUIN OF ANTICHRIST, AND THE

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BINDING OF SATAN.

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While these have been the transactions in the heavenlies, the Antichrist has been maturing in the earthlies. Satan has brought forth his man. The Antichrist has become personified in some Napoleon" of the time. If man at his best estate has all along the ages been altogether vanity, man at his worst estate has become at length altogether blasphemy. Concerning him, Daniel heard it said, "The king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the indignation be accomplished, for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers "—from this we incline to think he will be of Abrahamic descentnor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all." (Daniel xi. 36, 37.) And what then? "He shall come to his end, and none shall help him." (Ver. 45.) While his power lasts he shall stand up a vile person "-vile in principle, and of vile or mean origin, the people's man, and therefore not a prince of royal blood-" to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom "-he shall not be crowned by the people, as once they offered the crown to Cromwell, nor shall he care to crown himself, as did Napoleon but he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries," promising to relieve the people oppressed by taxation, abolishing civil lists and national debts, and restoring down-trodden nationalities. Then, in all probability, Poland will be wrested from Russia, Hungary from Austria, Nice and Savoy from France, Alsace and Lorraine (and who shall say how much more ?), from the newly constituted Empire of Germany; and lastly, or perhaps before all other, Palestine from the Turk, and given to the Jew. The professed mission of this now dominant power will be to emancipate the people from the costly and oppressive yoke of emperors, kings, lords, and especially landlords, the proprietors of the soil, so that the right of private property and lineal descent will be no longer respected. Any appeal to the book that declares "the powers that be are ordained of God," or the New Testament coupling of "Fear God" with "honour the king," will be laughed to scorn. The fools that long have said in their heart, "No God," will now, with unfaltering lip, declare boldly, "There is no God," and "because they like not to retain God in their knowledge, God shall give them over to a reprobate mind, to become filled with all unrighteousness; and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie,—the liar,—that they all may be condemned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." For, together with the Bible, has gone the Sabbath, and all religious fasts and festivals, and thus "he shall think to change times and

laws, and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and the dividing of time," three years and a half.

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But God who hath not forsaken the earth, nor forgotten His mise, has wisely and graciously decreed that the worst rule that ever the earth has seen shall be one of the briefest, for "the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end." (Dan. vii. 25, 26.)

But prior to this consummation, and during the reign of the Antichrist, Palestine having become restored to the Jews, the political changes of the times shall be such as to induce their return in great numbers to the land of their fathers, not perhaps as a nation, but in such numbers and with such resources that Jerusalem and its temple shall become restored to somewhat of its former estate. And after a brief season of prosperity wherein Jerusalem restored shall become a centre of political importance, the time must arise when, for some reason and by some means, that shall be fulfilled which is written, "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling (in the margin, poison, a deadly influence) unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zech. xii. 2, 3.) What war and bloodshed has not the possession and protection of the socalled Holy Places already occasioned in the world's history! A century before Zechariah's day, Zephaniah had been inspired to say to the waiting ones of these times, for devout Jews are still found, and will continue to be found, "waiting for the consolation of Israel" until it comes,-" Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." (Zeph. iii. 8.) Now, in order that the judgments recorded in Rev. xvi. may be poured out upon the men that have the mark of the beast and that worship his image, "three unclean spirits, like frogs, shall come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet,"-three mouths opened in blasphemy against the God of heaven; the devil, the Antichrist, and the harlot; a triunity of evil on earth, defying a triune Jehovah in heaven,—spirits of devils working miracles shall go forth unto the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And he gathered them together into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon (after Megiddo, where Deborah and Barak overthrew the Canaanitish kings. See Judges v. 19). From which we understand that rival powers will meet in deadly conflict in the valley of Jehoshaphat in close neighbourhood to Jerusalem,-possibly Great Britain in alliance with others,

leagued against Russia in alliance with Germany and others,-the hollow pretence of the man of sin to institute and secure the universal brotherhood of nations having failed as completely as the dreams of better, even the best of men; for the mouth of the Lord hath declared it: "I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." (Joel iii. 2.)

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Thus shall be brought about the "coming struggle" for supremacy in Europe and Asia Minor. What part, or whether any, the Eastern and Western Continents of America and Australia, allied as they are to us by various ties, may take in that struggle, does not appear revealed; but if the kingdom of the beast extends to them they must in some way share his destruction. For now must the prophecy, two thousand four hundred years old, be fulfilled, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third part shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them, as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, The Lord is My God." For in their extremity "the Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations as when He fought in the day of battle. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and I will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them, and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver and apparel in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague." (Zech. xii., xiii., xiv.) "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will give unto Gog '—a people from the North, possibly Russia and Germany in league-"a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, and it shall stop the noses of the passengers, and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and they shall call it the valley of

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Hamon-Gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying them that they may cleanse the land. And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land, to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it, after the end of seven months. Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown, the day that I shall be glorified saith the Lord God. Thus shall they cleanse the land." (Ezek. xxxix. 11-16.)

Here also let us note how the language of the following verses, 17-20, agree almost word for word with Rev. xix. 17, 18. For this going forth of the Lord to fight against those nations in Zechariah is the selfsame going forth shown to John in Patmos. "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth He judge and make war. And He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron; and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." (Rev. xix. 11-16.) And this, let it be observed, follows immediately after the marriage supper of the Lamb, and before the binding of Satan.

For now shall Daniel's wonderful vision become a fact: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool, His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him, thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him "-the redeemed of all ages"the judgment was set, and the books were opened." This judgment must neither be confounded with the judgment-seat of Christ already past, nor with the post-millennial judgment, which of course is yet to come. This is expressly the judgment of the living nations gathered in hostility to Jehovah and His people at Jerusalem, represented to Daniel as "a horn having eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things." (Dan. vii. 8, 11, 12.) As to which he adds, "I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." (See also Rev. xix. 19, 20.) "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." And now that the judgment is set, its process reveals the terror of that day of the Lord, before which prophets and men that had understanding in the visions of God have quailed with very fear and wonder at the ideas suggested by the spirit of prophecy. Isaiah said, "A grievous vision is declared unto me, therefore are my loins filled with pain, pangs have taken hold upon